She stared at the scene in disbelief. Jace could feel her jaw drop and tears involuntarily spring from her eyes and spill onto her cheeks.
"Josh?" she whispered, her voice shattering. He immediately dropped the girl he was holding onto and released her lips from his. He walked towards her with an expression of shock and regret.
"Jace, I can-,"
"Explain?" she laughed without a trace of humour. Her tears run faster and faster down her cheeks, mingling with the rain that fell from the sky; crying with her.
He made a move towards her, "No, don't get near me, no, don't touch me!" she screamed as he gripped her arms uncomfortably and dug his fingernails into her flesh.
"She said stop." a tense voice said. Jace ran to Michael's side and held his hand. The look of aggression and disgust was prominent on his face, his muscles tensing, holding him back from doing God know what.
"No, Mike, no, let's, can we just go?" Jace stammered and held onto him even tighter. He looked down softly at his best friend and once more at her ex boyfriend and nodded curtly.
"Yeah, you're soaked." Just then, she noticed he was right. The rain drenched her coat and fell in buckets down upon them.
For one last second, she glanced at the couple underneath the bleachers and shook her head at Josh.
"You're not worth it." she whispered. With that, she left hand in hand with her best friend, the boy who would never break her heart.
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
The car ride home was relatively quiet. Her sniffles drowned any chance of conversation, and the roaring heater left no room for discussion.
Pulling up to her apartment, she ushered him in. And flipped the light switch. With a neutral feeling, she moved towards her bedroom, entered, stripped and changed.
All the while, Michael was fuming as he lay on the couch. No one had the right to treat their girlfriend like that. No one had the right to treat Jace like that.
His thoughts were cut short as said girl walked in. Her dyed hair was damp, bags under her eyes and makeup scarce as the rain washed it away. She wore sweatpants and his hoodie, but as plain as she looked that moment to anyone else looking on, Michael felt his heart race and his breath shorten. She's beautiful.
She ran across the room and in 3 long strides she was tucked comfortably next to him, tears streaming mercilessly down her face and onto his chest. Sobs quickly resounded through the apartment. A lump formed in his throat as he tried to force his own tears down.
"You're worth so much more, okay? You don't need to say that she was prettier or smarter or whatever the fuck you were thinking. You are 10 times what she is. She doesn't matter. You are the kindest person I know. You make me really happy. You make me smile and laugh and you make my day better by just talking to me."
She cried a bit harder than that. He made gentle hushing noises and rubbed her back. With a deep breath, he said all the things he should have said a long time ago.
"You are the best of my life. You look and act like an angel. You know how to take a joke. You have a beautiful smile, you know? Lot's of girls would be jealous. Please don't ever be sad. I want you to be happy. Be happy with me. Because I,"
he took a deep breath as her crying ceased, attentive to his next words.
"Because I love you."
He expected her to yell at him. He expected to get kicked out and pleas for him to take those words back. They never came.
"When I saw them, kissing, I mean, my heart didn't break. I just think I'm worth more than that, you know? I, it, it; I mean my heart," she began to stammer.
"It didn't break." she finally got out. "It didn't break because it was never his, I believe. It was yours. It's always been yours."
With that, he sat up, forcing her to change positions. With their faces in close proximity, she could hear the unevenness of his breathing and she giggled. His arms tread around her waist, and pulled her body against his. Eyes meeting, he took his chance.
He captured her lips and the rain outside, falling harder and harder against the pavement, wasn't as close as how hard they fell for each other in that moment.
